Europe — Flow Monitoring Surveys in the Mediterranean and Beyond: Transit Countries (January — November 2016)

This report attempts to identify the change in transit countries that migrants took to reach Western Europe before and after the closure of the Western Balkans route and implementation of the EU-Turkey Statement. The analysis is based on IOM DTM Flow  Monitoring Surveys. While the survey was implemented in six countries on the Eastern Mediterranean route - Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia -, for the purpose of this analysis, only surveys collected in Greece, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, and Hungary were included in the analysis. Overall, 84% of Syrians surveyed in Greece travelled through Turkey, while 4% travelled to Lebanon first and then to Turkey. The majority of Afghans transited through Iran and Turkey to reach Greece. 87% of Afghans followed this route before the EU-Turkey Statement, while the percentage dropped to 74% after the statement.